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Newborns have the highest risk of death in the first 4 weeks of their life. Umbilical cord of a child is an important site for microorganism colonization and also forms a portal of entry for invasive pathogens. This study focuses on the bacterial colonization with 2 separate cord care regimens: dry cord and 4% chlorhexidine care group. This is a randomized control time-bound study conducted at a tertiary health care centre in Mangalore. A total of 144 newborns fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included and then divided randomly into two groups: dry cord care and 4% chlorhexidine. Two swabs were collected, baseline swab (swab 1) within 3 hours of birth and second swab (swab 2) at 120± 10 hours of birth and these samples were cultured for gram negative and positive organisms. Results were evaluvated with Chi-Square test. Out of 144 samples, in 115 showed no growth at the baseline and only 29 showed growth. In the dry cord care group, 38.9% showed growth of microorganism in comparison with chlorhexidine group which was 1.4% in swab 1 (baseline) and in swab 2, 87.5% in dry cord care group and 18.1% in chlrohexidine group in swab 2 respectively. It was observed that methicilin susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were the most common microorganisms isolated with others being Pseudomonas species, coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS), Enterobacter species and Citrobacter species. Use of 4% chlorhexidine is effective in reducing colonization of bacteria and infection in comparison with dry cord care method. Therefore, decontamination of the umbilical cord with 4% of chlorhexidine should be recommended in a newborn child. However, both cord care methods did not lead to any infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A study of the incidence of the third head of the biceps brachii (caput accessorium) was carried out in the Department of Anatomy, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, India. The observations were made during routine cadaveric dissections to teach the undergraduate students. Forty-eight cadavers were included in the study. The occurrence of this anomaly and its morphology are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]